By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
The Rowan County Child Protective Services management team has completed its activities related to findings from a Child Fatality Review conducted in December 2008.
Social Services officials selected risk factors for infants ó including co-sleeping with parents and siblings ó as the topic for this year’s annual community roundtable after a December 2008 state fatality review found co-sleeping to be a factor in the May 2, 2008, death of 8-month-old Emmanuel Campusano Jr.
Tom Brewer, Children’s Services Program administrator, summarized at a recent meeting the 21 items the management team has completed in its fatality response report.
“The biggest thing is as an agency we have this thing in writing,” Brewer said.
Dr. Sara Sinal of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, who spoke during the June 30 roundtable discussion, said a 2007 study of infant deaths found co-sleeping was present in 81 percent of the cases.
The response report included three main categories, which were enhancing the Department of Social Services’ in-house procedures, strengthening the department’s interaction with at-risk children and their families, and increasing community awareness of Child Protective Services’ reporting procedures and other issues.
One of the biggest issues was extensive training for Social Services staff to include safe sleeping for infants, when to consult with the the agency’s attorney and case documentation that meets state standards. Another issue that was addressed was responding in a timely manner to bereavement issues with families whose children have died.
The team can strengthen interaction with at-risk children and their families by being vigilant about consultations between the child protective services attorney and judges when the parents are noncompliant with the in-home service plan.
“We have to get with the attorney and judges; if the family is not compliant we need to be more proactive. The judge can order them to do certain things,” Brewer said.
Child Protective Services’ on-call staff will visit at night and on weekends those parents who abuse drugs and alcohol. Drug-testing has been broadened to include all adults in the household or who have access to the child.
The Department of Social Services has also started a campaign to educate the public about crib safety and has accepted donated cribs for parents unable to afford them.
A recall last week of drop-side cribs led the staff to dispose of some cribs the agency had received.
Brewer said staff members had begun looking into the safety of the donated cribs long before the recall; now they have “disposed of some we didn’t feel were safe.”
To increase community awareness, the group has reached out to Access Channel 16 to explain Child Protective Services reporting, safe sleeping and crib safety.